November 23, 2010
Will the Circle be Unbroken?
Ah, the old hymn seems to ask good questions. Here is my take on the incestuous "circle" involving the right-wing Bradley Foundation, the UW-Madison Political Science Department and the Walker "campaign." Did you know that about 52 percent of people in Wisconsin oppose high speed rail? Who asked? Who framed the questions? Who spun the results? Who paid? Ah, so nosy!
Another poll was just released. We can't tell if the entire poll was released; we think we know who framed the questions; we don't know if some questions went unreported because Bradley/Walker didn't like the results. Other than Goldstein and Lightbourn, who must be viewed as part of the Bradley/Walker team, who handled the "spin"? (Our questions may have persuaded the funder of the poll, Bradley Foundation's Wisconsin Policy Research Institute (WPRI), to explain that if you have questions about the poll you can call UW Poli Sci professor Ken Goldstein (608-347-3510) or former Tommy Thompson staffer WPRI's George Lightbourn (608-220-6085).
WPRI, part of the Bradley Foundation propaganda machine, entered into a contract that they hoped would not be subject to Open Records (but the books had to open) with the UW Madison Poli Sci Department. As a result of Open Records requests, Fighting Bob and One Wisconsin Now got documents that are disturbing. WPRI is in charge and has final say on whether to conduct the poll and whether to release the poll results, and WPRI shapes the questions and designates the spin person. The agreement to, in effect, enlist the UW Poli Sci Department in right-wing politics is a shame.
You can bet the Walker transition team, headed by Bradley Foundation head Mike Grebe, who apparently decides if Lightbourn keeps his job, old friend of Roger Ailes, will make use of the Poli Sci department and the Poli Sci Department may adopt the new slogan "UW--Open for Business."
JOBS: How are you doin' on the new, permanent, family-supporting jobs, Governor Walker? I believe 250,000 was the promise--that's 177 new ones per day. Looks like no new jobs yet, so you are 3,894 behind where you need to be. Better get started! Another poll, perhaps? Maybe people don't want new jobs. Who knows? WPRI!
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They are the Borg. Resistance if futile. The GOP Hive Mind has co-opted the press, the university, the media, and the idiot voters. Are torch light parades and rallies ahead? How about Walker Youth? Bradley Boys?
When liberals get guns and learn how to use them things will change. Until then the knurring will continue.
-Ziggy Zickenschlager | Sturgeon Bay,WI. | November 23, 2010
All humanity is in trouble as the world swings to the right and those responsible pull us along and down.
Life is supposed to be an adventure. In the wrong hands it has become an agenda. Unfortunately we have become the pawns so those in power can have it their way.
It'll take more than smart talk and whining to make things change. This may be one time when the pen is not mightier than the sword.
-Franz Fripplfrappl | Out | November 23, 2010
Jeane Kirkpatrick was Reagan's ambassador to the U.N. and joined his cabinent as National Security advisor. She is linked to all the right wing outfits such as the American Enterpise Institute and the Project for a New American Century, William Kristol's imperial named "think tank" that promoted pre-emptive war against Iraq, a concept recognized as a war crime. She was a staunch supporter of the military regime in Argentina that disappeared thousands and, according to Wikipedia, clashed with Defense Sec. George Shultz because she thought Ollie North's plan to skim military appropriations to secretly fund a war was OK.
She was on the advisory board for the National Association of Scholars, a group that works against what it regards as a liberal bias in academia.
Her husband Evron(they are both deceased) also had a full resume in and out of academia, government and right wing entities. He held numerous positions in the OSS, the precursor to the CIA and in 1952 consulted with the agency's director on a plan for a domestic "national psychological warfare program." According to author Sara Diamond he was part of Operation Bloodstone, a covert project to bring Nazi war criminals into U.S. intelligence.
Vocationally Ev was a university professor and the Executive Director of the American Political Science Association, the professional grouping of political science professors, from 1954 until his retirement in 1981. I got this info from Wikipedia and a site called sourcewatch.org
The fact that the UW political science department is operating in secret as a front for right wing political operatives, especially in the area of gauging and manipulating public opinion, is certainly a shame, but, apparently, not extraordinary. Thanks for bringing this to light Ed and please stay on this.
-dd | Hudson, Wi | November 23, 2010
Now it has been floated by a Walker aide, a tax cut (aimed for the rich I'd bet), and raising the sales tax (primarily hits lower and middle income), raising it to 7.5%. Stick it to the poorer again.
-WisconsinLiberal | Fox Valley, WI | November 23, 2010
So what if 52% of people are against the High Speed Train. 70% of Americans are against the illegal war in Iraq, yet the consrvative republicans don't listen to those nmumbers.
-Dol O'mite | Oconomowoc, WI | November 23, 2010
The sales tax idea will probably go. It will work because the GOP knows that no matter how loud the rubes might bitch they will still truck on off to KameApart on Black Friday and buy a bunch of useless junk they can't live without.
When the consumer goes on strike and refuses to buy anything except absolute necessities the sales tax will look like the dumbest idea ever and the first ones to call for repeal will be all those two bit small business GOP voters who are legends in their own minds and think they are some kind of Rockefeller.
But of course that is fantasy land. The rubes will just ask for the shaft to be greased as they bend over to take it.
-Griebnotz Doerkpfester | Egg Harbor,WI. | November 23, 2010
If you can drive from Milwaukee to Madison faster than taking a train, then just how "high speed" is the train.
Here is a better question, who would ride this train? Where would it start and stop? A train in the abstract sounds good, in reality it would be a two-hour trip leaving people at an inconvenient location in Madison, such as the airport. If the train goes downtown, it will cause massive traffic problems.
So until somebody explains how this train would really work, who would ride it and why it would not cause traffic jams in downtown Madison, polls are meaningless. What would a train ticket cost? probably at least $25.00 And Ed, have you ridden a train lately? Did you know Amtrack now has its own military force that searches passengers and uses dogs? Tell us how that fits with the concept of freedom?
-Max Power | Milwaukee, WI | November 24, 2010
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